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Sex differences in aggression are paralleled by differential activation of the brain social decision-making network in zebrafish
Get PDFAlthough aggression is more prevalent in males, females also express aggressive behaviors and in specific ecological contexts females can be more aggressive than males. The aim of this work is to assess sex differences in aggression and to characterize the patterns of neuronal activation of the social-decision making network (SDMN) in response to intra-sexual aggression in both male and female zebrafish. Adult fish were exposed to social interaction with a same-sex opponent and all behavioral displays, latency, and time of resolution were quantified. After conflict resolution, brains were sampled and sex differences on functional connectivity throughout the SDMN were assessed by immunofluorescence of the neuronal activation marker pS6. Results suggest that both sexes share a similar level of motivation for aggression, but female encounters show shorter conflict resolution and a preferential use of antiparallel displays instead of overt aggression, showing a reduction of putative maladaptive effects. Although there are no sex differences in the neuronal activation in any individual brain area from the SDMN, agonistic interactions increased neuronal activity in most brain areas in both sexes. Functional connectivity was assessed using bootstrapped adjacency matrices that capture the co-activation of the SDMN nodes. Male winners increased the overall excitation and showed no changes in inhibition across the SDMN, whereas female winners and both male and female losers showed a decrease in both excitation and inhibition of the SDMN in comparison to non-interacting control fish. Moreover, network centrality analysis revealed both shared hubs, as well as sex-specific hubs, between the sexes for each social condition in the SDMN. In summary, a distinct neural activation pattern associated with social experience during fights was found for each sex, suggesting a sex-specific differential activation of the social brain as a consequence of social experience. Overall, our study adds insights into sex differences in agonistic behavior and on the neuronal architecture of intrasexual aggression in zebrafish
A Weighted and Normalized Gould–Fernandez brokerage measure
Get PDFThe Gould and Fernandez local brokerage measure defines brokering roles based on the group membership of the nodes from the incoming and outgoing edges. This paper extends on this brokerage measure to account for weighted edges and introduces the Weighted–Normalized Gould–Fernandez measure (WNGF). The value added of this new measure is demonstrated empirically with both a macro level trade network and a micro level organization network. The measure is first applied to the EUREGIO inter-regional trade dataset and then to an organizational network in a research and development (R&D) group. The results gained from the WNGF measure are compared to those from two dichotomized networks: a threshold and a multiscale backbone network. The results show that the WNGF generates valid results, consistent with those of the dichotomized network. In addition, it provides the following advantages: (i) it ensures information retention; (ii) since no alterations and decisions have to be made on how to dichotomize the network, the WNGF frees the user from the burden of making assumptions; (iii) it provides a nuanced understanding of each node’s brokerage role. These advantages are of special importance when the role of less connected nodes is considered. The two empirical networks used here are for illustrative purposes. Possible applications of WNGF span beyond regional and organizational studies, and into all those contexts where retaining weights is important, for example by accounting for persisting or repeating edges compared to one-time interactions. WNGF can also be used to further analyze networks that measure how often people meet, talk, text, like, or retweet. WNGF makes a relevant methodological contribution as it offers a way to analyze brokerage in weighted, directed, and even complete graphs without information loss that can be used across disciplines and different type of networks
Building GEM student research capacity by creating an inclusive learning environment with Lego serious play
No full textBridging Normative and Market Power Europe: The EU’s Diffusion of Market-related Norms and Policies in ASEAN
Get PDFAugmenting a colour lexicon
Get PDFLanguages differ markedly in the number of colour terms in their lexicons. The Himba, for example, a remote culture in Namibia, were reported in 2005 to have only a 5-colour term language. We re-examined their colour naming using a novel computer-based method drawing colours from across the gamut rather than only from the saturated shell of colour space that is the norm in cross-cultural colour research. Measuring confidence in communication, the Himba now have seven terms, or more properly categories, that are independent of other colour terms. Thus, we report the first augmentation of major terms, namely green and brown, to a colour lexicon in any language. A critical examination of supervised and unsupervised machine-learning approaches across the two datasets collected at different periods shows that perceptual mechanisms can, at most, only to some extent explain colour category formation and that cultural factors, such as linguistic similarity are the critical driving force for augmenting colour terms and effective colour communication
Desire and its rule: Gender Trouble, the phallus and the ethics of psychoanalysis
Get PDFQueer theory, despite its reliance on psychoanalysis, has had remarkably little to say about Lacan.
One reason for this is that Lacan’s name came to the fore in queer theory already associated with
Judith Butler’s critique of The Signification of the Phallus in Gender Trouble and Bodies that Matter.
This article revisits this critique and argues that Butler’s objections to Lacan do not hold up to
scrutiny, because they disregard the goal of Lacan’s intervention, fail to account for the progression
of Lacan’s thinking in the corresponding Seminars and misconstrue Lacan’s theory of desire more
generally. It then briefly scrutinises the immediately subsequent Seminars VI and VII and argues that
psychoanalysis’ ethical concerns do not map easily onto gender and sexuality as queer theorists
understand them; the desire presumed to awaken in the analytic itinerary is not subject to extrinsic,
normative regulation, but comes into being as its own law
Intelligent user interface to control a powered wheelchair using infrared sensors
Get PDFThis paper presents a new system to steer a powered wheelchair using a Sharp IR sensor and a Raspberry Pi. Interviews with occupational therapists, helpers and carers at Chailey Heritage Foundation/School revealed that clicking noises generated from closing switch contact used to operate powered wheelchairs disturbed the attention and reduced the focus of young wheelchair users having cognitive or physical disability. Also switches often slipped away and became unreachable. The new system replaced lever-switches used to steer powered wheelchairs by an electronic circuit. The circuit consisted of a Sharp IR sensor, Analogue to Digital converter, relays, and a Raspberry Pi. The sharp IR sensor detected movement in its range and the Raspberry Pi interpreted the data and generated commands to steer a powered wheelchair. Two modes were used to overcome the problem of sensors slipping from position: Click to Calibrate and Auto-Calibrate. A technical User Interface was created to modify sensitivity, user and detection settings. Practical testing showed the system behaved satisfactorily. It detected users’ voluntary movements and used them to steer a powered wheelchair and overcome the problem of switches slipping from position. Clinical trials will be conducted at Chailey Heritage Foundation
Understanding Uncertainty in Crowdsourced Digital History Projects – The Operation War Diary
No full textThe paper aims to understand the different types of uncertainty in crowdsourced digital history projects and how to address them in multiple stages of crowdsourcing. To achieve this aim, the paper looks at the Operation War Diary (OWD) to differentiate between the occurrences of uncertainty during the project's life-span starting from the creation of the documents through their annotation by volunteers to their visualisation and user interaction. History as a discipline acknowledges its limits within interpreting the sources. These approaches tend to agree that the interpretation provided by historians - despite making the most effort to stay true to the sources and their context - is a chosen narrative from the many. When digital methods come into the picture, there is a need for a digital data managing and analysing framework which enables the historian to handle the uncertainty embedded in the sources, rather than dismissing it and working only with the certain data leaving the false negatives containing useful information out of its database.
The aim is to find a balance between what MacEachren called precision and accuracy (1992), or what Earl Babbie named reliability and validity (1975). Both taxonomies differentiate between those two qualities of research which decide if the research runs methodologically correctly and/or reflects reality. Digital methods and automation tend to create an imbalance between precision (reliability) and accuracy (validity). They increase the former at the expense of the latter. The question becomes more complicated when the digital history project involves crowdsourcing, as this provides an additional step carrying the possibilities of human or technical error and misinterpretation.
The paper reviews the taxonomy and uncertainty models in the literature which are relevant to the OWD, secondly aims to provide its own model, and finally offers recommendations to provide both reliable and valid crowdsourced historical projects